


Of blackroms and justice

by kittypetro



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Caliginous Romance | Kismesis, F/F, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-05
Updated: 2015-04-16
Packaged: 2018-02-28 07:04:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2723147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittypetro/pseuds/kittypetro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The great Pirate Marquise Spinneret Mindfang hated Redglare Neophyte. It would be so easy to simply let the rustbloods hang her and leave her there... but would it be punishment enough? Maybe she could get her revenge another way... and have some fun at the same time</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Redglare smiled at the view in front of her. The great pirate Mindfang had done as most of her other victims had… underestimated her. The courtroom was set, and Redglare herself enjoyed herself as she tied the final knot of the noose that soon would hang around Mindfang’s neck. The crowd was screaming for murder. For justice over the many trolls Mindfang had killed and pillaged, wreaking chaos and disorder at every turn. And now look at her, on her knees, clutching the limb that had been her arm smiling… smiling? 

Redglare frowned, looking at Mindfang as she gave one of the many rustblood workers the noose, telling him to get the gallows ready. The troll rushed off and Redglare turned briefly to the grand highblood who sat at his throne, bored out of his mind apparently. The crowd’s noise rose higher, screaming and roaring, and behind her Redglare felt Pyralspite sit up, making a small gurgling noise… she was worried. 

But what could possibly be wrong? She had Mindfang captured, her fleet, with the exclusion of her one ship that they had taken here was destroyed, the few pirates who had survived were down in their cells awaiting their own death after their captain… and yet Mindfang was smiling… what was she missing? And then… all hell broke loose. 

Two rustbloods started fighting, and suddenly the entire room exploded with angry lowbloods beating each other up. The grand highblood roared in laughter before joining the fray, probably just for the hell of it, and as Redglare turned around to see what Mindfang was doing she was met with Mindfang’s face smiling at her. 

“Good night Neophyte” she said, Redglare seeing a fist closing in on her face, and then there was nothing but pain and darkness.

…

Mindfang groaned as she shook her hand. The Neophyte’s skull was hard… but if nothing else she had gotten a small revenge for her arm. Looking around Mindfang enjoyed her handiwork. All around her the trolls were killing each other, the Grand highblood having left in the chaos, probably going out to enjoy killing more worthy pray. 

A growl made Mindfang turn around slowly, seeing the huge dragon lusus of the fainted Neophyte on the floor. “Right… I have a score to settle with you too” Mindfang thought to herself as she reached down for Redglare’s dragon staff, the very same she had cut off her arm with. “Well then… you killed my lusus… took out seven of my eyes… and probably ate my arm. I’m afraid I have to kill you for that, I loved my arm.” 

The dragon roared, Mindfang jumping away from it, managing to thrust her borrowed sword into the dragon’s belly, dragging a long rift into it, the dragon roaring in pain before falling to its side, the great beast bleeding out a slow painful death. 

“And now we’re even” Mindfang said with a grin. Mindfang looked down on Redglare who lay unconscious on the floor. The woman amused her. She was mad at her. The bitch had destroyed her fleet, cut off her arm and been a huge pain in her ass. A pity too, that her sense of justice would get in the way of what she could be… what they could do together. 

Mindfang smiled. She was so beautiful too. Mindfang looked closely at her. A beautiful body, nice firm butt and quite big around the chest area… a plan to have some more fun and humiliate Redglare even more was forming in Mindfang’s head as she looked around. There was only a handful of rustbloods left alive… well, better make use of them. 

Locking into the heads of the 6 trolls left alive, Mindfang got them to calm down and forced them to walk over to her. “Hello my new slaves” she said with a grin. “I got some work for you. You…” she got into the head of one of the taller looking trolls. 

“You are to go to Darkleer’s place, tell him Mindfang sent you for payment on the favor he owes me; I need a new arm to replace the one that got sliced off.” 

The troll bowed gently before running to the exit, Mindfang turning to the next troll, a smaller one with heavy bruises. 

“You go down to the dungeon and free my crew, tell them that their captain is ok and want them to get the White widow ready for departure and I will come when I finish up here.” 

The troll grunted and ran off. The reminding 4 trolls stood still, Mindfang grinning. 

“As for you four… I have a special job for you.”

…

Redglare groaned. Her head hurt like hell. What had happened?

“OW, CAREFUL.” 

“I told you it was going to hurt Mindfang, and you can be glad I am doing this at all.” 

“Please, you owed me.” 

“And I have now payed up… now if I may ask…” 

“No, you may not. You may leave though before I figure out if I want to test this new arm on you.” 

Redglare moaned. Voices… so loud… what was going on… the last thing she remembered were… Redglare opened her eyes, seeing a retreating form she recognized as Darkleer, as well as Mindfang, flexing a new robot hand, getting used to the feeling. 

Mindfang… that was right, she had surprised her… damn it she had psionic powers, that explained it. She had made the crowd go nuts… well they weren’t here now where they? 

Redglare stepped forward, planning on taking down Mindfang, being abruptly stopped by a yank on her neck and a sudden tightness that made it hard to breathe. She gasped loudly, Mindfang turning around, smiling. 

“Ah good, you are awake.” She made a gesture and the pressure lifted, Redglare looking behind her suddenly realizing why she had been standing upright… she was at the gallows, her head in the noose she herself had made not too long ago, 4 rustblood trolls holding onto the rope, ready to hoist her up at any moment, her hands tied firmly behind her back. 

“Good to see that you woke up Neophyte… just in time too, I was getting bored.” 

Redglare growled. “You stinking no good pirate what have you done?” 

Mindfang smiled as she walked up to Redglare, standing a few inches away from the tealblood. “Well… I got the rustbloods to kill off each other, the highblood ran off somewhere for a better kill… I knocked you out, that was very satisfying really… I killed his honorable tyranny while I waited to Darkleer who made me this new fancy robot hand… let’s see what have I forgotten… oh yes.” 

Mindfang smiled a sweet smile, locking eyes with Redglare. “I killed your lusus.” 

Redglare’s eyes widened, before narrowing quickly. “YOU NO GOOD BLOODY BITCH I WILL KILL Yurgh.” 

Her tirade was stopped as she felt the rust bloods once more tug at the rope. 

Mindfang laughed. “Oh you I like… so much anger. Do you hate me Neophyte? You wish to inflict mortal pain to me? Well unfortunately for you, I’m the one in charge.” 

Mindfang smiled, reaching out and taking Redglare’s glasses, the Neophyte blinking as she got used to the light. 

“Fancy” Mindfang said, holding it up to look through them. “I might keep these.” 

Redglare growled once more, tugging at her bonds. “Now, as far as I am concerned we are about square” Mindfang said. “You seem to like order and equality, so I think we should get that out of the way first. Your lusus ate mine, as well as put my fleet on fire, burned 7 of my eyes and probably ate my arm… You tried to hang me, cut off my arm and have been calling me names ever since you woke up. Now I killed your lusus, that was payback for the many trolls in my service that it killed, as well as my own lusus. I got a new arm back and I punched you in the face, that should be payback enough for the arm you sliced off… I’m taking the glasses for my eyes cause I fancy them… now that only leaves the hanging part.” 

As if to put extra meaning on the word, Redglare felt the rustbloods tighten the grip again. Fuck… how was she going to get out of this one? 

“Now I am not a cruel troll” Mindfang said with a grin. “So I am going to give you a choice. It’s up to you to choose how this will end.” 

Redglare scowled. “I don’t believe you.” 

“Fair enough… but what have you to lose in your situation?” 

Redglare didn’t answer. Mindfang took it as an acceptance to her terms. 

“Option one… I order these fine gentletrolls to lift you off the ground, and will greatly enjoy seeing you slowly die from strangulation by noose, the same way many good and decent thieves probably has gone under your care. I will then leave and be on my merry way and your dead body will hang here for her royal condescension to find as a small, try better next time greeting.” 

Redglare gulped. She had seen countless of criminals hang from this very place. Seen the panic in their eyes as their ability to breathe disappeared, their eyes rolled back into their heads and their bodies went limp. Not the most pleasant way to go. 

“Option 2.” Mindfang smiled in triumph as Redglare’s eyes went to her single one. 

“Oh I have your attention now do I?” 

“Fuck you.” 

“That was what I was thinking actually.” Mindfang smiled. “Option 2… become my kismesis… with all that applies to the quadrant.” 

Redglare’s eyes widened. “Are you fucking kidding me?” 

“Nope.” 

Redglare looked at Mindfang mortified. Kismeses… with that bloody pirate? True, she hated the woman, wanted nothing more than to tear into her after what she had already done… but becoming kismeses with her meant having to let her live… and yet if she refused…

“I am going to give you some time to think about it” Mindfang said with a nasty grin walking around Redglare slowly, Redglare yelping as Mindfang decided to test out her new robot arm by smacking Redglare across the butt cheeks. 

“In about 5 seconds these guys are going to start pulling at that rope… I don’t think I need to tell you what happens after that… I’d think fast about what I would want to do if I were you.” 

Redglare shuddered as Mindfang continued her slow walk, raising her arm to lay a simple finger on her horn, dragging her finger softly and slowly up her horn, letting go just as the trolls behind her tugged at her noose once more… only this time they didn’t let go. Redglare tried to take a gasp of air as she felt the trolls lifting her off the ground, and saw Mindfang sashaying her pretty body down the stairs from the noose. 

A ringing started in her ears as the pressure on her neck began to really hurt, and her feet, who she could barely reach with her toes, came off the ground. 

“Wait” she grunted, barely able to speak as her vocal cords were crushed. 

She saw Mindfang turn around, apparently not sure if she had spoken. Black spots were collecting themselves in front of her eyes now, not a good sign. 

“Ok… ok, let me down.” 

Mindfang raised her hand and Redglare coughed and gasped as the rustbloods let go of the rope, finding herself gasping for air on the hard floor. Taking a few deep breaths she noticed the piping in her ears stopping and the spots disappearing from her eyes. 

Looking up she saw Mindfang looking down on her with a smile. 

“Now, I will admit, I only heard a small OK from you… so I am not really sure if you wanted me to kill you or to let you down and kiss you… so whenever you feel like giving me your answer…” 

Redglare would have growled if she could… but the pain on her vocal cords made it impossible. She rose with difficulty, the combination of high heels and her hands tied to her back made it hard, but finally stood face to face with Mindfang… the stupid pirate looking way to happy with herself. 

However, this was only a temporary victory… and to be honest, given the circumstances, Mindfang was a very pretty and sexy troll… wait, had she thought that? 

“You win pirate… I’ll be your kismesis.” 

Mindfang’s smile widened. “Excellent… now I would take your hand in agreement, however it seems like yours are kind of tied up at the moment…” Mindfang stepped up, her nose almost touching Redglare’s own. “So how about a kiss instead?” 

Redglare scowled, but as Mindfang had so eloquently put it… her hands were tied. She growled, before stepping up, her mouth on Mindfang’s, the two starting a long and intense tongue battle, Redglare stopping first as she once more needed air. 

Mindfang grinned and licked her lips. “Not bad… I could get used to that.” 

Redglare gave Mindfang the coldest meanest look she could, looking as Mindfang reached down and grabbed her dragon sword… she quickly noticed the black bloodstains from his honorable tyranny… as well as the teal blood of her lusus. She felt her anger surge again, trying to calm herself down as Mindfang walked behind her and cut off her binds, Redglare taking off her noose herself before shaking her wrists. 

No sooner had she finished and turned around to ask Mindfang what was happening next she found herself on the floor, Mindfang straddling her body, her robot arm holding down her arms once more, her real finger tracing her jaw line. She giggled. 

“Now then… a few things before we start.” 

Mindfang snapped her fingers and behind them Redglare gasped as the 4 rustbloods all took one step outside the courtroom, falling down into the deep ravine below. 

“All right then… no more disturbances left… where was I… oh yes, I was about to leave your body a big scratched up limping mess.” 

Redglare opened her mouth, about to tell Mindfang just what she thought of her lack of subtlety, but wasn’t able to as Mindfang started kissing her again, both her hands grabbing at Redglare’s horns. Redglare moaned, as she felt pleasure mixed with pain as Mindfang rubbed her horns, as well as scratched them with her nails. She needed to do something, to not simply lay here and take it all, Mindfang was not going to get that pleasure. 

She took her hands and placed them on Mindfang’s jacket, quickly undoing all the buttons, snaking her hands under Mindfang’s shirt, scratching at her skin, Mindfang finally letting go of her mouth as she winched. 

Mindfang chuckled. “Well well, aren’t we eager?” 

Her answer came in the shape of an intense pain as she felt Redglare’s fingers dig through her skin, hitting her ribs hard. Well then, time to up the ante. 

Mindfang let go of Redglare’s horns, reaching down to unbutton her vest. Redglare yelped as Mindfang got her up to a sitting position, and suddenly found that both her vest and shirt had been dragged off and thrown into a corner, Mindfang discarding her three pointed hat and jacket the same way. Now we have better access to the good parts she said with a grin, Redglare blushing a hard teal as Mindfang let her boobs free, their impressive size staring her right in the face. 

Not waiting for an invitation Redglare dived in, biting down on soft flesh, her mind a chaotic mess of rage and lust. She barely paid any attention to anything, just wanted to bite and suck and scratch and maim the woman over her, who once more had grabbed hold of her horns and… wait. 

Redglare stopped assaulting Mindfang’s chest, the blue blood smirking while panting at the same time. “Something wrong?” 

Redglare frowned. “When did I get on top?” 

“When we rolled around and you started taking good care of my special girls… and don’t you fucking dare stop, I was enjoying it.” 

Redglare growled, pinching down on Mindfang’s boobs with her fingers, smiling as she saw Mindfang throwing her head back in pain, continuing her work with kisses and biting until she reached Mindfang’s black pants. 

Not caring about anything other than giving this crazy troll what she wanted so she could get on with her life Redglare tore the pants down Mindfang’s legs, ignoring the pirate’s small amused laugh, taking in the scent of her wet dripping nook. She looked up at Mindfang who sat still with a blushed face, panting slightly, remembering all she had done. The trolls she had killed… the death of her lusus… and then without warning she forced herself in with three fingers. 

Mindfang roared and grabbed hold of Redglare’s horns once more. “Fuck… damn it woman, no need to destroy my innards.” 

Redglare just growled, her hands finding a good rhythm, her own body growing warm again as Mindfang continued to rub her horns. Redglare’s lips found a nipple that looked like it could use some bites, reaching her one free hand up to Mindfang’s horn, rubbing in tandem with her ministrations. 

It didn’t take long before she felt Mindfang make noises, telling her to go faster something Redglare had no problems doing, thrusting with her fingers harder and harder until finally she felt Mindfang’s walls tighten around her fingers, dragging them out, shaking off the cobalt blue liquid. 

She panted and fell back on her ass. “There… you got what you wanted... can you leave now?” 

Mindfang, who was struggling to sit up after the intense pail she had just had, raised an eyebrow, and then laughed. 

“Don’t be silly my dear Redglare. What kind of kismesis would I be if you didn’t get your release to?” 

Before Redglare could refuse Mindfang was over her smiling. “And let me tell you… after what you just did to me, I will make sure you get it back eightfold.” 

Redglare managed a small gulp before Mindfang started kissing her. Kissing turned into biting, which in turn turned to scratching. Up and down her body Redglare found her grey body turning teal from bites and scratches and hickeys, placed all around on her body as if she had no say in it. 

Mindfang didn’t stop until she reached Redglare’s pants, which she without any effort pulled off her legs together with her boots and threw everything into the pile of already discarded clothing. 

Redglare steeled herself for what she knew was about to happen, closing her eyes, just wanting to ride this out… when Mindfang kissed her thigh. 

Looking up Redglare gaped as Mindfang continued down her leg, not even getting near her warm, wet and dripping nook. Mindfang looked over to Redglare and gave her a small smile before taking out her tongue, licking the bottom of her foot, all the way up to her toes, Redglare not really sure it the tingling sensation she got was disgust or lust. 

“What the actual fuck are you doing?” 

“Oh I am sorry, did you expect me to give you what you wanted in your pace? Sorry about that, I don’t do well with things like taking orders or doing things the right way… to boring.” 

As if to prove her point Mindfang reached down and sucked at the inside of Redglare’s leg. She’d have a feeling that a hickey would be very visible there soon. 

“But I guess… if you ask me nicely I can wrap this up.” 

Redglare groaned. Fuck this shit, she didn’t even care anymore. She was a hot frustrated mess and all she wanted was for Mindfang to finish this shit so she would leave her the fuck alone. 

“Please fuck me, as hard and fast as fucking possible… please.” 

Mindfang smiled. “As you wish.” 

Redglare moaned as she felt Mindfang’s fingers enter her, thrusting hard and brutal, she was probably going to be sore from that later. She whimpered as she felt herself get closer, Mindfang upping the pace, while reaching up to grab her horn tightly, the added pleasure making her finally hit her peak. 

The pleasure filled her up and she fell back to the floor, so exhausted that she fell asleep right then and there, not really caring for the consequences. 

Mindfang grinned as she licked her fingers clean. Getting up from the cold ground she smiled. 

“Why thank you Redglare, this has been fun.” 

She walked over to her clothes, putting them on slowly, lastly taking the red glasses that technically belonged to Redglare. She felt great… hadn’t had this good of a pail in sweeps, goodness knew Dulascar wasn’t this good. 

Looking down at the naked body of Redglare, Mindfang started to think. If she left Redglare here, odds where good that Redglare would be found by her royal condescension… and if she learned that she had accepted to be Mindfang’s kismesis she would probably be culled on the spot… such a shame, she really was a good kismesis… however… Mindfang smiled. 

If she kept Redglare around… odds were that they could do something like this again… and she needed someone to fuck hard on a regular basis. She looked back to Redglare’s clothes, taking them up and laying them in Redglare’s lap, shielding her from the cold air before lifting Redglare up and taking her along for the ride. Without another word she started walking, winching slightly. 

Redglare knew where to bite to leave a lasting impression it would seem. Walking down the road she had walked up when she had let Redglare take her, she finally found the docks on the small Island the Neophyte used as her courtroom, finding her men finishing up the last touches to her ship, the white widow. 

Her first mate, a tall bulky Cerulean blooded troll bowed as she stepped onto her ship. 

“Welcome back aboard Captain Mindfang.” 

“Thank you Ardell. Are we ready to depart?” 

Ardell looked down on the unconscious Redglare in Mindfang’s arms, as well as her new robot arm, but knew better than to ask. It wasn’t his place anyways. 

“Yes Captain, we can leave at any moment.” 

“Good, then do so. This one will be our guest for an unknown period of time… she will stay in the small room in the cockpit, tell everyone to stay out of there, and that I will lock the door and no one is to open it, no matter what sort of sounds come from inside.” 

“I will inform the crew Captain.” 

“Good, then I will be back soon.” 

Mindfang smiled as she made her way inside the large ship’s hull, finding her way to the small room in the cockpit, letting Redglare down in the one hammock inside the room. The room was mostly used for a closet, but it could be used as a private room as long as the person using it didn’t mind the lack of space. 

On the starboard side of the room stood a built in bookcase, filled with bits and pieces of junk, like old books, goblets and necklaces that proved to be worthless and sea shells that her loony of a cabin boy found pretty and wanted to save as memories of fun times he had had. 

“Now if I don’t remember wrong” Mindfang muttered, smiling as she found the book she was looking for, a small black book with no real title. A thief’s handbook, which she had obtained many sweeps ago from a troll who had given it for payment for help in escaping some authorities. 

Turning around Mindfang looked to the front of the room, where a pretty beaten up desk stood, as well as a comfortable plush chair. Placing the book down there she turned to the desk’s many drawers, finding one with a leather bag. She smiled and left the drawer open for Redglare to find later. 

She had no more than thought of the troll before a groan made her turn to the port side of the room, where a single linen hammock with a pillow and blanket held the groggy Redglare. 

“Good evening” Mindfang said smiling, walking over to the door blocking the way out. 

Redglare sat up groaning, her head apparently trying to figure out what was going on. Her eyes went to Mindfang, then to the ship interior. Her eyes widened as she finally looked out of the small porthole to her starboard side, seeing nothing but ocean. She turned back to Mindfang. 

“You fucking PIRATE, WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE?” 

“Saved your life” Mindfang said with a smile. “You see, I was planning on leaving you back there… but then you just went up and over my expectations… I haven’t had this good of a pail in at least 4 sweeps… my point is, if I had left you behind… Her royal condescension would come and have you culled. If not for letting me escape then at least for being my kismesis. So I brought you along.” 

Mindfang smiled and grabbed the door. “Now I do believe you have had a long day, so rest up and calm down… I’ll have someone bring you some food when I think you need it… have a nice rest Redglare… and welcome to the White Widow.” 

And with that Mindfang closed the door, locking it behind her, Redglare’s angry yells echoing out in the hallways of her ship, Mindfang simply smiling. This was going to be a good night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Redglare on the ship, Mindfang arranges a meeting between her matesprit and kismesis, the talk explaining a little to Redglare about how Mindfang's head works

Chapter 2

Mindfang smiled and stretched as she came out on deck, the smell of salty seawater calming her down. 

“Captain.” Mindfang turned to her first mate as he walked up to her, the crew already busy at work on the ship. 

Ardell saluted her with the respect she expected them to show. 

“Status rapport.” 

“Well… we are down to one ship in the fleet again. Most of the crew was either burned alive or left for dead but with you present and including our new guest the ship has 25 surviving members.” 

“OK, who?” 

“Well apart from you and myself captain there is Sailor master Elropa, boatswain Shirit, medic Colkia and Master gunner Eomona of the chief crew. After that there are the amber strays in the rig, as well as the two lemon bloods as well as Yiztie on deck as your able bodied sailors, ready to do whatever they need.” 

“Our cook survived the trip, as well as her cabin boy. Scarla managed too, believe it or not, rascal hid in the narrow spaces when the enemies got aboard, probably saved her life that… speaking of luck, we have 6 cannoneers, just enough for 3 canons for out on the sea raid.” 

Mindfang counted in her head. “All right… three more, who?” 

“Well one is your new prisoner” Ardell said with a small look at the door his captain had returned from. “The 2nd one… is Lukiit.” 

Mindfang looked at Ardell with a small raised brow, before raising her head upwards where she could barely spot a figure in the crow’s nest. 

“All right… I’ll deal with that later… and the last one?” 

Ardell smiled widely. “I think you know who… she’s waiting in your quarters ma’am.” 

Mindfang blinked, before smiling. “All right… then I will retire for now. I trust you with the crew for now Ardell.” 

“Of course captain, you have a good evening.” 

Mindfang turned around to face the bridge, and the door on it that led to her own private quarters. She walked up on the bridge, giving a small smile to her Sailing master who stood at the helm, pointing her ship out to the open seas. 

“Evening Makeea, how has your night been?” 

The topaz troll laughed. “Oh not to bad cap’n, was in a battle, saw a dragon, was captured in a cell for about 3 hours, nothing new really.” 

Mindfang smiled. “Keep that attitude sailor, and you will go far. Take care of my ship Elropa, I have some urgent stuff I need to do.” 

And with that said Mindfang opened the door and walked into her quarters. She had no more then closed the door before she was enveloped in a hug. She smiled as she heard a small sob, feeling her jacket going wet. 

“Hey now, I came back, what are you so worried about?” 

The troll opposite her let her go, looking at Mindfang with deep jade colored tears running down her face. 

“You looked so defeated. So pained… you didn’t even fight her.” 

Mindfang sighed. “Dolarosa… I gave you a promise I would never leave you… you really think someone like Neophyte Redglare could take me down?” 

Dolarosa sniffed, not saying anything, simply raising her hand to brush away Mindfang’s dark curly hair, the red blind eye staring back at her. Another sniff of repressed sadness came from her as she traced her hand down to Mindfang’s new arm. 

Mindfang sighed. “Dolarosa… I am here now… I am safe; I was safe all along…” 

Dolarosa let a single tear fall down her face. “I thought I had lost you… I can’t take that again… I can’t lose another one of my precious people.” 

“I know” Mindfang said with a sigh, hugging Dolarosa gently, kissing her cheek gently. “And I promise you, I will do my best to make sure that it won’t happen. Now I need to ask you something.” 

“Yes?” 

“I hate bringing up past memories… but do you and Redglare know each other from before?” 

Dolarosa gave a small sad smile. “Depends on your meaning of knowing each other… she came to one of my sons sermons once… freaked everyone out. We had gathered a bunch of lowbloods to speak of my son’s plans of rebellion, about how all trolls should be equal… no sooner had he said this before Redglare arrived on her giant dragon. People screamed and ran everywhere, we thought we had to fight her, that she had been sent to stop us… but she simply jumped off her dragon and sat down and smiled, telling us not to mind her and please continue… she listened to his ideas, and after he was gone she came up and shook his hand, wishing him good luck before leaving.” 

Mindfang chuckled. “I suppose that explains it.” 

“Explains what?” 

Mindfang put her hand into her jacket pocket, taking out a necklace with a symbol looking like a lying 69. Dolarosa looked at it shockingly, before her eyes started tearing up again. 

“Redglare was wearing this around her neck when I knocked her out earlier… she is probably mad that it’s missing from her clothes down in the room I have her in.” 

“Wait… WHAT? YOU BROUGHT HER HERE?” 

“She’s my new kismesis and play toy” Mindfang said with a smile. “If you want to I can take you to see her.” 

Dolarosa looked back to the necklace, taking it from Mindfang’s hands. “You don’t mind?” 

“That my matesprit and Kismesis talk together? Heavens no… just know that she’s not exactly happy at this current point in time.” 

Dolarosa smiled. “I’m not worried… please, let me talk to her.”

…

Redglare grumbled as she buttoned the last button on her vest. She had realized very quickly that Mindfang had left her alone in this room and while she was going to give the no good lousy pirate a piece of her mind the moment she got out she would rather do it dressed than being a naked screaming mess. 

As she finished dressing she sighed. Her necklace was gone… that was a shame, but nothing she could do anything about while stuck in this room. She looked the door over. It looked sturdy, and with her blood color being rather low on the strength scale, trying to bust through it would probably just end up with her hurting herself. 

She looked around the room, her eyes scanning everything with expert eyes. Maybe some of the pirates had hidden something in here that she could use. Finding the desk she frowned as she found a single black book on top of it, no words or images on its cover. Walking over she picked it up and opened it, scowling at its contents. A book for thieves and criminals. 

Instructions of how to pick pockets without getting caught was printed on the first page she looked. She snorted in disgust turning the page, finding a guide on how to hide in crowds to avoid capture. She was tempted to throw the book out of the porthole until she turned to the next page… finding an illustrated guide to pick open door locks. 

Looking at the page she turned to look at the door that kept her trapped. Inside her head she started battling herself, thinking about the pro’s and con’s for the scenario. Pro… getting out of this room, finding Mindfang and kicking the living shit out of her and possibly hanging her from the rafters. Con… doing this… learning this trick would mean doing something that she herself hated with a passion, breaking the law, and the fact that she would be able to do something so vile would probably stay with her forever. 

A knock on the door made Redglare stop her musings, dropping the book down into an open drawer and closing it, just as Mindfang’s voice went through the door. 

“Hey Redglare, I am coming inside now so if you are doing anything stupid, please stop or cover yourself up.” 

Redglare growled. “Fuck off.” 

The door opened and Mindfang walked inside… another female troll right behind her. Redglare looked at the woman. She was tall, and had probably been a very pretty troll once upon a time. Her skin was a tad paler than normal, and the grey cloth she wore bore testament to the fact that she was a slave… and yet she held herself with grace, as if she felt that what she was didn’t define her. 

“I see you got dressed without much problem, good to know that despite your constant habit of falling unconscious your brain still manages to function that much.” 

Redglare was across the room in 2 strides, ready to punch the smug pirate right in the nose when the other troll stepped up. She held up her hand… and the necklace of the sufferer dangled from it. 

Redglare stopped her hand, who she had raised, ready to punch Mindfang, and looked at the troll, who looked ready to cry. 

“I don’t suppose you remember me? Do you Lady Neophyte?” 

The voice was familiar to Redglare, and looking down on the necklace again she got wide eyed. “Lady Dolarosa?” 

Dolarosa smiled. “It’s just Dolarosa now… haven’t been a lady for a long time.” 

Redglare turned from Dolarosa to Mindfang. 

“You kidnapped her too pirate?” 

Dolarosa looked at Redglare. “Please don’t yell at her… Mindfang saved me.” 

“SAVED YOU? SHE’S A FUCKING PIRATE.” 

“And she saved me… she’s also my Matesprit… and she thought we should have a talk now that we will be seeing each other a lot… being on the same ship and all.” 

Redglare gave Mindfang a piercing gaze. 

“Don’t be too sure about that… fine, I’ll talk.” 

Mindfang smiled, turning to Dolarosa. “Then I will leave you two alone, might help a little with the tension in the air. I’ll be back in about 20 minutes, think that will do it?” 

“It’s perfect” Dolarosa said, kissing Mindfang softly on the lips. Redglare rolled her eyes and made a small noise of disgust. 

“Aww don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about you” Mindfang said with a grin, dragging Redglare to her, kissing the legislator on the lips hard. Redglare smacked her hard over the cheek, Mindfang laughing heartily before walking out of the room and closing the door, Dolarosa holding Redglare back. 

“I AM GOING TO MURDER YOU IN YOUR POD YOU VICIOUS VILE FUCKING…” 

“She’s not listening Redglare… you know as well as I do that she is simply doing this to get under your skin.” 

“Well she is fucking succeeding at it.” 

Dolarosa smiled and sat down in a nearby chair, Redglare sighing before doing the same.

“So… I suppose I should start from the top” Dolarosa said, her eyes looking longingly at the piece of jewelry she was holding. “My life… or rather my new one, started when my son got captured.” 

Redglare didn’t speak, her angry scowl disappearing into a worried glance as Dolarosa’s voice trembled. 

“We were 4 people… out to change the world. Me, my son Kankri, his matesprit Meulin and his best friend Psiionic. We were walking through the land as per usual when we were ambushed and captured by Darkleer and his goons… he was about to kill Meulin, but could not kill the olive blood… so he doomed her instead, letting her go… she ran to the dark caves where she lives in exile, away from people and laughter and any social standing… by saving her life Darkleer condemned her to a long life of suffering in isolation.” 

“Me and Psiionic were knocked out, and when we woke, we were tied with chains, having been woken by screams of pain… the screams belonging to my son, who no more than 4 meters away from me was being tortured by Dulascar Ampora… I cried, screamed and begged for mercy, to just let my poor boy end his suffering… after a while Dulascar was so mad at my yelling that he walked over to me and kicked me, smiling as Kankri started yelling… and then he started torturing me. Kicking, hitting and scratching me up, all in front of my son who screamed and yelled and kept bleeding… and then Dulascar raped me.” 

Redglare closed her eyes, her blood boiling in anger. Dolarosa licked her lips, trying hard to not show any emotion. 

“And as he was done he threw me to the ground, yelling at Kankri that as punishment for raising him… for refusing to let nature go its course and leave the mother grub who was my responsibility to take care of him I would be sold into slavery… and Dulascar would buy me and make me his personal toy until I had no self left… and it would all be Kankri’s fault. I turned to Kankri… seeing his eyes meet mine, and told him the last things he would ever hear… that I loved him and if time turned back a billion times I would still do the exact same thing and take him with me… and then the Dulascar rolled his eyes… and shot his harpoon through Kankri’s chest… and he died.” 

Dolarosa stopped talking as the tears ran down her face, refusing to sob, but the memories apparently still fresh in her mind. 

“They didn’t even let me say good bye… didn’t let me hold him or kiss him one final time… he was left hanging by those chains, while Psiionic and I was dragged away… Psiionic was thrown into a vat of mind honey, he is now a living battery on one of the Condescension’s ships… Psiionic’s powers steering the ship, the others have started calling him the Helmsman.” 

Redglare felt a twinge of sadness over this, although she didn’t know why… even more surprising was the tears that ran down her face. She had only met the man once, at the Sufferer’s sermon where he had been the one walking up to her, protective of his friends, wondering what she was doing there… when he realized she meant no harm he had introduced himself politely, and had even gotten Pyralspite a small snack. 

Dolarosa sniffed, calming herself down once more. “Well… true to his threat, Dulascar bought me as a personal slave… and life in hell started. I won’t bore you too much with the details, mostly he threw me in a cage out on his porch, with nothing but a thin blanket and the rags I was wearing. When he was bored he’d drag me out, rape for a while and throw me back in… when he was drunk he was likely to come and beat me and when he threw parties I was often passed around his friends. Come and have a piece of the traitor’s ass, you are nothing more than a hole for me to use, and so forth… he barely fed me so after a while I could barely stand up… he finally fed me some food and gave me another low blood too feed on when I lost control of my glowing skin.” 

Redglare frowned. “Glowing skin?” 

Dolarosa smiled at Redglare, and suddenly her grey skin lit up, Redglare gaping. 

“Rainbow drinker… comes with its ups and downs I suppose” Dolarosa said with a sigh, the glowing stopping. 

“Anyways, life was bad… real bad… and then one day I woke up to a voice… this one different than Dulascar’s. I heard someone talk about Dulascar, about wanting to mess with him… so I strained myself and got up from the ground, calling out as loud as I could. I could barely see anything, Dulascar had hit me the night before and my left eye was blue and swollen, and everything else was dizzy from my lack of food. But I called out.” 

“Hello, anyone there?” 

“And I got an answer.” 

“Yeah little slave, I am here… what is it to you, locked in your little cage?” 

“I took a deep breath, most of my strength gone. I heard… you said you want to mess with Dulascar. You his enemy?” 

“Something like that… we are technically still kismeses, but I am going to break up with him tonight… again, what is it to you?” 

“Please… kill me.” 

“And why should I do that?” 

“Because it will piss him off… he beats me, rapes me, shows me off as a trophy every time his friends are over… I haven’t eaten in ages and I don’t feel a single thing… please… end my suffering.” 

“I felt the one outside my cage walk up to it, felt a warm grey hand clasp my cheek, as if looking me over. And then there was a small chuckle.” 

“I think I can help with that.” 

“And then… after getting an answer, I fainted… I was so tired and hungry, and trying to stand had made me so worn out… And then… strangely enough, I woke again… woke up warm, someone feeding me soup. As I opened my eyes I saw Mindfang… as well as one of her sailors, helping me get some food in my system.” 

“Take your time Mindfang said with a grin. No need to rush.” 

“I didn’t ask, simply ate my soup, before muttering… I didn’t need soup, I needed blood. Mindfang stepped up and rolled up her sleeve, offering her arm. I just looked at her confused.” 

“I’m a cobalt blood… I am made of some pretty tough shit; drink up, so you can be useful to me.” 

Dolarosa smiled, turning to Redglare. “Mindfang saved me… she could have killed me, I would have been fine either way, but she saved my life.” 

Redglare huffed. “So?” 

“So you should be grateful that she did the same to you… it means she is interested in you.” 

Redglare snorted. 

“Listen… you are going to be stuck on this ship for a while, that is something you simply have to make peace with Lady Neophyte… How you approach it is determined about how your life will be from now on.” 

“I am not going to be friends with a bunch of law breaking criminals.” 

Dolarosa smiled, holding up the sufferer pendant, dangling it in front of Redglare. 

“And yet… you have approved of some criminals before.” 

Redglare sighed. “That is different.” 

“How?” 

Redglare looked at Dolarosa. “Look… my blood is teal… would you say I am high blood or low blood?” 

“High” Dolarosa answered, without as much as thinking it over. 

Redglare nodded. “And Mindfang… who is a blue blood, you think she thinks the same thing?” 

Dolarosa didn’t answer. 

“That’s my point” Redglare said. “It is always the same. Low bloods hate me for having just gotten into the high blood category and the high bloods look down on me for thinking I am equal to them… that’s why I supported your son… because a lot of what he said made sense to me. He never hurt anyone; he wanted things to be different… the scales where equal, doing bad things for the sake of good. Mindfang? She’s a criminal. She pillages, steals, kills and create chaos just because she can… and I do not approve of it.” 

Dolarosa smiled and opened her mouth as a knock came on the door. “Yo, you two about done?” 

“Almost” Dolarosa said with a smile, turning to Redglare as she rose. 

“I never said you had to approve… but it would help you a lot if you accepted it.” 

And with that she rose from her chair, walking over to the door, knocking on it as a sign, Mindfang opening it allowing Dolarosa to leave. 

“Thank you for the talk Lady Redglare, I’ll see you around.”


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

No sooner had the door closed behind Dolarosa before Redglare turned to look back to the desk where she had hastily hidden her book. She walked over and opened the drawer, finding the book… and a small leather bag with small metallic lock picks. 

Redglare grinned. Perfect. She took up the book and started reading. The pro’s outweighed the cons right now. She needed to get out. She needed to have access to the other parts of the ship so she could kick Mindfang’s ass and get off this fucking boat. After having read the instructions several times Redglare took the lock picks and crouched down to her knees, gently trying to pick the lock. 

The book had told her that different locks had different levels of difficulties, luckily for Redglare though, this door seemed to be one of the older and easier kinds. She controlled her breathing and listened carefully as she worked. She swore when the first lock pick snapped in half, throwing it over her shoulder. Almost 2 hours later she was down to her last lock pick. 

She sighed. “Come on… please work.” 

She went into the lock once again, finding the creaks and crevices she had started hating as much as Mindfang, carefully turning the lock pick… *click* 

Redglare gaped. 

She took out the lock pick. It was whole. She rose to her feet again, steadying herself as she had been sitting down for so long. 

“No way” she muttered; her hand reaching down to turn the door handle. The door opened without as much as a groaning objection. Redglare grinned, suppressing her desire to cheer and scream loud in triumph… she’d wait with that until she had Mindfang hanging from the noose. 

“All right Redglare… time to get the lay of the land… or sea, whatever.” 

Redglare started walking out into the ship corridor, trying hard to stay low and silent. Without her cane or anything else for an offensive strike, she’d have to be careful. However that was easier said than done, with the ship going from side to side like a drunken high blood on sopor slime. 

Redglare groaned as she held onto the side of the corridor. “Fucking hell stop spinning already” she muttered, raising her head as she heard noises running towards her… only the footsteps where small. Redglare had barely had the chance to think what that meant as a small girl rounded the corner. 

The two just stared at each other for what seemed like ages, when Redglare quickly grabbed the girl, holding her up to the wall, hand over her mouth. 

“Hush, not a word… listen, I am not a pirate, I got kidnapped, did they take you too?” 

The small girl just looked at Redglare, before slowly giving a nod. 

“OK, I am going to move my hand, please don’t scream.” 

Redglare let go of the girl, looking her over. 

“You don’t look like much, what are you? 2 sweeps?” 

“3” the girl said insulted. “My name is Scarla.” 

Redglare looked down on the female troll. Her shirt was the basic black shirt all wrigglers got when they earned their symbol, and bore a symbol of a large half circle that met another smaller and longer one. The symbol was Scarlet red. 

The girl’s left horn was small and stubby, the other long and a little crooked, but not fully developed. “I see… I am Redglare, nice to meet you. Now Scarla, I need to ask you something, how did you get on this ship?” 

Scarla looked down to the floor, sniffing slightly. “My moirail and I was on his ship when Cap’n Mindfang caught us, she captured both of us and now we are forced to be her servants, please miss, you gotta help me.” 

Redglare smiled. “All right, I’ll get us off this ship, I promise you that, but I need a weapon, is there anywhere I can get one?” 

The girl cocked her head to her side. “No… everything is locked up… unless…” she looked up. “How about I go to the galley, I can find a knife there, and they won’t suspect me, cause I am always around.” 

“You sure about that little wriggler?” 

“Yeah, totally, it’ll work.” 

“All right, I’ll wait, now hurry.” 

The girl nodded and ran off, Redglare sinking back into the shadows sighing. She wasn’t sure if this was a good idea… but honestly, it was the best option she had. She could barely stand right now, the ship was rocking again, and she felt sick. 

She remembered when she had been a small wriggler and Pyralspite had decided she needed to know how to fly him. It had been terrifying and Redglare had screamed through it all, holding onto the dragon’s neck for dear life as he spread his wings and soared… and later when they were back to the ground Pyralspite had tossed her off early so she landed hard on her arm, as punishment for having thrown up all over him. She had gotten used to it after a while though, and honestly, Pyralspite flew in a straight line, this up and down business was driving her mad. 

Soon the small footsteps of Scarla brought Redglare back, the girl turning a corner smiling and holding a small knife. 

“Here, this is all I could find.” Scarla smiled. “Also, everyone has gone to the galley for dinner, there is no one on deck right now.” 

Redglare smiled. Things where looking up it would seem. 

“All right, which way to the deck?”

“That way, follow that hallway and go left, and take the first right, you’ll get out on the deck.” 

“Thank you, you find somewhere safe to hide, no need for Mindfang to figure out you had anything to do with helping me, just in case.” 

“Thank you” Scarla said with a smile, running down the other way. Redglare started walking, more confident now that she knew no one would be waiting on the deck. 

She finally reached the door that led outside. Carefully she opened it, letting her eyes wander over the open deck. No one there, Scarla had told her the truth. All right, time to find a life boat, or at least see if there was one. 

Redglare walked out onto the deck, having gotten about to the middle of the ship when there was a loud sharp whistle. Suddenly there was movement everywhere around her, pirates jumped up from the sides, down from the masts, and up from a stairwell towards the bridge. 

Speaking of the bridge, the person who had whistled the signal stood on it, smirking down at Redglare where she stood trapped in a circle surrounded by swords and pirates. 

“I can’t fucking believe you fell for that.” 

Redglare looked up at Mindfang. She looked different now than last time she had seen the pirate, a black eye patch covering her now blind left eye. 

“I honestly thought you had learned from your mistakes… never feel safe.” 

Redglare scowled at the pirate, hating the fact that she was right. She had been complacent, and now she was surrounded by pirates on all sides, armed with only a small knife. 

Next to Mindfang a girl groaned. “Man I can’t believe she just walked out on deck without even checking the bridge.” 

The troll took out a small leather pouch, throwing it down towards the deck, where a smirking Scarla caught it. 

Redglare frowned confused. “Scarla?” 

“My dear little Powder monkey” Mindfang said proudly. “She has been on this ship for nearly a full sweep now. Great at her job, and usually the one we send over to scout on unknown ships.” 

Scarla smiled and turned to Redglare, putting on a distraught face, huge fake tears rolling down her eyes. 

“Please sirs, you gotta help me, pirates attacked me and took me captive, please sirs let me have some food I haven’t eaten in days.” 

The pirates all laughed, Redglare scowling. How could she have been so stupid? 

“Don’t take it too hard Miss Redglare” Scarla said with a grin. “You are an adult; all adults think wrigglers are helpless when they first see them.” 

Mindfang smiled. “Now then Redglare… that knife isn’t yours.” 

Redglare grinned in challenge. “You want it, feel free to try and take it from me.” 

“I would… but thing is, it’s not really mine either.” 

Redglare lifted an eyebrow, but suddenly noticed movement to her side, looking towards and straight up, seeing a tall huge female troll. She quickly looked at the troll’s symbol, a variation of squiggly lines and arrows, drawn in a yellow color she recognized as brass. Lovely. 

“Redglare, meet our cook Huulfa. Huulfa, this is my new kismesis.” 

The troll leaned down, her sharp angular horns giving her quite the menacing profile as Redglare looked her over. 

And suddenly Huulfa reached out, lifting Redglare off the ground, holding her up by her vest jacket. 

“OY, WHAT THE HELL?” 

Huulfa hmmed, looking her over. “Well aren’t you a skinny one? What, your Dragon eat all the food you got near?” 

Redglare scowled. “Go to hell; put me down before I stab you.” 

Huulfa sniggered, obviously impressed. “Well you got a mouth at least, that’s the spirit, I'll be sure to stuff you up every time I see you open that mouth, maybe you even get some meat on those scraggly bones.” 

Huulfa reached out with her free hand, yanking the knife out of Redglare’s hand, before throwing her to the deck once more. 

“I’ll be in the galley cap’n, have fun with your new toy.” 

Redglare growled and got to her feet, about to chew out the cook as the boat once more shook and she struggled to find her balance. She grunted as she found her footing, the pirates around her chuckling. 

“What’s wrong little land lubber? Can’t deal with a little bit of waves?” 

Redglare didn’t answer them, simply turned to the sound of Mindfang’s heels walking over to her. She saw the pirates at the end move out of the way, allowing their captain entry to the middle of the ring. 

“I wouldn’t worry too much about the waves Redglare, in a month or so you’ll probably not even notice them.” 

“I don’t plan sticking around for that long.” 

“I know… that doesn’t mean you won’t though.” 

Redglare growled. “Listen here you no good piece of shit, I want of this dingy and if I don’t get what I’ll want I’ll start stabbing people.” 

“Dingy? DINGY?” 

Redglare turned to look away from Mindfang to look to the bridge, where a female troll stood at the wheel. 

“YOU… DINGY?” 

Mindfang chuckled. “Oh you are in trouble now.” 

“ROSA, TAKE THE HELM.” 

Dolorosa, who had been standing in the shadows on the bridge, jumped forward and took the helm from the angry troll, who jumped down to the main deck and swiftly walked over to the circle. 

Redglare had barely taken a look towards her shirt and symbol depicting some circles and swirly lines, as the girl hit her hard on the nose, making her fall backwards once again, the teal blood not even hitting the ground as the girl reached out and lifted her by her shirt. 

“Listen here you stupid brainwashed law abiding land lubber. The cap’n said we are not to kill you, so I won’t. I don’t care that you sunk all those ships and killed most of the other crew members; they had nothing to do with me. I am upset with you locking up my friends, yeah, and I am furious that my cap’n has lost both 7 eyes and an arm because of you, but she doesn’t seem to mind so I am not going to do anything about it… but if I ever hear you talk shit about this ship I will pummel you, do I make myself clear?” 

Redglare looked up into the other troll’s eyes, lifting a single eyebrow. 

“Whatever the fuck you say.” 

“Makeea, that’s enough.” 

The troll Makeea let Redglare down, the teal blood looking up at the colors of Makeea’s symbol. 

Topaz… 2 levels under her on the hemospectrum. 

“Calmed down now sailing master?” 

Makeea grumbled, but nodded begrudgingly. Mindfang smiled and looked down to Redglare again. 

“Small tip, next to me there is only one other troll that loves this ship more than life itself… Makeea Elropa, our sailing master… don’t insult the ship or she’ll hit you again.” 

Redglare huffed, getting to her feet once more. 

“And what now pirate? Am I supposed to blindly follow your commands like a little loyal cuttlefish? Cause I will tell you right now, I have no intention of doing anything but make your life miserable until we reach a shore.” 

“I didn’t think you would” Mindfang said with a smile. “I wouldn’t have chosen you as a kismesis if I thought you wouldn’t fight back. As for my plan, I intend to make use of you in my crew… I just need to figure out what you are good at.” 

Redglare growled. “I am not a criminal.” 

Mindfang guffawed. “No, clearly not… tell me Neophyte, how many lock picks are left?” 

Redglare’s face fell. “How did you…” 

“OH COME ON NEOPHYTE.” 

Mindfang rolled her eye at the sky. “My ship, my room, my books, my drawer my lock picks… use that think pan of yours.” 

Redglare frowned and tried to think. The book had been in the shelf, the lock picks in the drawer in the one room Mindfang had placed her in with a locked door. Mindfang wanted her to become a pirate… Mindfang had planned this. 

“You little fucking WORM, I WILL MURDER YOU IN YOUR SLEEP.” 

Mindfang grinned. “No you won’t… kismesis privileges, remember. The way I see it, you will either learn to love hating your new life… or you will hate me for loving it… either way I am doing my job as a kismesis.” 

Mindfang looked to her crew. “All right you lot, you know what to do, help me teach this landlubber the ropes, she has a long way to go.” 

A pirate with long scruffy hair and an eye patch covering his right eye threw a cutlass at her feet, the other pirates placing their swords back in their scabbards, still not moving, leaving a large circle Redglare couldn’t get out of. Looking from the cutlass up to Mindfang, Redglare lifted an eyebrow. 

“First you take my staff, then you take away a small knife and now you are giving me a weapon?” 

“The blade is dull” Mindfang said, taking up a cutlass of her own. “As is this. They are used for training.” 

Redglare’s other eyebrow joined the first, looking around. A ring made of trolls not moving, a sword at her feet, Mindfang holding a sword of her own… and an order to her crew that she was to be taught the ropes. 

“And if I refuse to do this? If I refuse to follow the tracks you have so directly pushed me onto?” 

Mindfang chuckled. “You want to try and see what happens?” 

Redglare scowled. Fuck her. Fuck her and her fucking ship and every pirate here. She bent down to grasp the cutlass, never breaking eye contact with Mindfang, just in case she tried something. Getting back up she started to walk slowly around the circle, Mindfang doing the same thing, not seeming the least bit nervous. 

“How about we make this interesting?” Mindfang said with a grin. “If you actually manage to land a hit on me I’ll give you back your fancy red glasses.” 

Redglare grinned. “Have you already forgotten what happened last time the two of us faced each other?” 

“Oh you mean the time I was distracted by my eyes burning and my fleet sinking? No I haven’t… however these are completely new circumstances.” 

“All right… so is this a time limit thing or?” 

“When I have hit my opponent 5 times or it has gone 15 minutes… whichever comes first.” 

“All right… So I hit you and I get my glasses back… what is in it for you? If you don’t manage to him me once before I hit you 5 times… you spend the rest of the night on the bridge with Makeea.” 

“The topaz blood who slugged me?” 

“Your fault for calling The White Widow a dingy.” 

Redglare thought it over. If she won she got her glasses back without her having to make a huge fuss over it or having to get new ones the moment she got of this boat, if she lost she’d simply end up standing silent for maybe another 5 hours in one spot, where she could take a close look at the different pirates and learn more about them and their ways. 

“All right, I accept the terms.” 

Mindfang grinned, and quickly jumped at Redglare. Redglare grunted and lifted her cutlass as fast as she could, managing to deflect Mindfang’s rush just in the nick of time. 

“Not bad, you have good reactions; now let’s see how you can parry.” 

Another swing made Redglare react, suddenly finding herself parrying attacks from the merciless pirate in front of her, finding herself being pushed backwards. Redglare liked to think that she was pretty handy with her own sword, but this was not her cane, it was bigger and shorter and had a very different way to be held. 

Mindfang suddenly stopped, holding her blade in place, pushing down on her. 

“Given how fast you cut of my arm and that you own a blade of your own I suppose I am not surprised that you are holding your own… however you should pay more attention to your surroundings.” 

Redglare took a chance to look away from Mindfang, realizing that a few more hits from her would have more or less forced her into the hands of one of the pirates standing guard. 

“Now… what are you going to do to get out of this?” 

Redglare looked at Mindfang, before pushing back quickly with her cutlass, doing a quick pirouette under her arm, striking out trying to hit her back. She was just about to cheer out in triumph as her sword once more met Mindfang’s, Mindfang having turned around the opposite way when she had been pushed back. Just as Redglare realized this Mindfang twirled again, hitting Redglare hard in her side. Redglare yelped, clutching her side. 

Nothing was bleeding, true to her word Mindfang was not using a sharp sword, but damn it if it didn’t hurt. 

“The base plan was good.” Redglare looked up to scowl at Mindfang. 

“However if you aren’t quicker than your opponent you will be off balance and leave yourself open to an attack… 1 hit, 4 to go.” 

Straightening up Redglare grasps her cutlass with a good grip and once more launched an attack, mad at the grinning pirate lord over her, determined to somehow hit the stupid smirk off of her face before the night was over.


End file.
